Cruise Strikes and Elections

Cruise Strikes and Elections

According to Iran Gate, there were about 300 or 400 of us who participated in the strike on November 28th at the Cruise Company premises. The women were wearing navy blue mantos and were chanting slogans about the 20 million toman poverty line and the 6 million toman base salary. Some of the women had plastic stools because they had to stand behind the machines for hours, even on holidays when they have mandatory shifts.

These remarks are from one of the Cruise Company employees. Cruise Industries is the largest and most important supplier of automotive parts in Iran. Although it is stated on the company’s website that we are committed to improving the quality of life for our employees, which will enhance our company’s competitive position and the technical capabilities of the Iranian automotive industry, in recent years, the workers and employees of this company have always been among the protesters against the lack of minimum wages and difficult working conditions.

Low wages and difficult economic conditions have forced many employees of this company to participate in the November strikes. According to its employees, the strike led to the identification of some of them by security forces and ultimately their dismissal.

On November 17th and 19th, 2022, during the turmoil of nationwide protests in Iran, workers at three cruise companies went on strike. According to the Iranian Free Workers Union, these workers protested against low wages and the cancellation of overtime shifts on Friday. However, the cruise company stated in a statement that there is no disruption in cruise production lines and the personnel will continue production uninterrupted, regardless of political issues.

I work at the cruise company’s light hall, and on December 1st, when we wanted to enter the company, they prevented us and said our contract had expired. There were maybe around 200 of us that day. It was a bad day, and I knew he had family problems. We had put up a gathering every morning at the company’s entrance. The next day, I heard that he had committed suicide in the restroom, and they took him to the hospital.

It has been reported in some media outlets that a female employee of Cruise Company committed suicide due to dismissal, but Cruise Company did not react to it. Previously, subsidiary companies of oil, gas, and petrochemical refineries, which had participated in strikes, reported threats and intimidation by their managers and announced that they had fired a group of protesting workers. However, these days, Cruise Company is more known for its embezzlement of 34 trillion tomans, rather than its well-known strikes.

Cruise Company, which states in its website introduction that our strategy is to provide quality and reliable parts and systems to meet the needs of the country’s industries, was tried on February 2, 2022, on charges of criminal activities in the field of smuggling professional and organized automotive parts amounting to 34 trillion tomans.

The managers of the company, which was ranked as the 50th Iranian company by the Industrial Management Organization in 2017, have been accused not only of smuggling, but also of other offenses such as bribery of customs employees, disruption of public necessities distribution through overpricing of automotive parts, illegal accumulation of wealth, and major disruption of the country’s economic system.

According to the cruise company, currently 12,000 active personnel are working in the company. In the first court session of embezzlement and smuggling, which was chaired by Abolghasem Salavati, the managers of the cruise company were accused of receiving billions of tomans in bribes.

Case details:

Several defendants, including Mohammad Ali Pourfetrati, Hamid Kashavarz Tuchani, and Masoud Ahmadi Zadeh, have been mentioned in the case. The prosecutor’s representative stated that Mr. Ahmadi Zadeh and Mr. Mohammad Ali Pourfetrati are currently abroad in Iran-Canada. According to the prosecutor’s representative, the bribe amounts were transferred from Masoud Ahmadi Zadeh’s accounts to Hossein Fereydoun.

According to this report, Masoud Ahmadi Zadeh, who was working at Export Bank, played the role of an intermediary in the bribery scheme and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for that. The prosecutor’s representative also stated that through Masoud Ahmadi Zadeh, 6 billion rials were received in two installments: 11 billion rials in one installment and 1 billion rials in another installment, for the 9th parliamentary elections, and these amounts were paid by the cruise company.

Hamid Kashavarz Tuchani

The first defendant in the cruise case, Hamid Kashavarz Tochaee, son of Hassan, holds dual Iranian-American citizenship. He is known as a top entrepreneur and the founder of Cruise Manufacturing Company, the owner of Cruise Group and Bahman. During the court hearing, when asked by the judge if he also holds American citizenship, he denied it and stated that he only has Iranian citizenship. He did not accept any of the charges brought against him in court and declared that he rejects all of them.

Kashavarz considered the information mentioned in the indictment to be flawed and stated that nothing in our case is unknown.

Regarding one of the charges against him, which was the purchase of shares in Iran Khodro and interference in its management, he stated that in 2008, along with his partner Mr. Alipour, they bought shares in Iran Khodro, and by 2011, these shares had increased by 14%. As a result, they were chosen as members of the board of directors of Iran Khodro. They are currently present in Iran Khodro as non-executive members, and they have no role in the management of this company.

He says that in recent years, many allegations have been made against him regarding the management of Iran Khodro, but he has been acquitted of these charges by the Competition Council’s Review Committee. However, his acquittal from the charges has been accompanied by a lot of talk and speculation.

One of the other charges against Keshavarz was his purchase of the Bahman automotive group. He explains that in 2016, when Bahman group was put up for auction, he acquired it as a third-party company by bringing in a third partner. This is despite the fact that Bahman group, with 228,000 shareholders, operates as the only publicly traded automotive group.

Keshavarz claimed that Cruise Company has no connection with Hossein Fereydoun and Masoud Ahmadi-Zadeh. We are wise enough to distance ourselves from the political apparatus of the country, as politics has many differences with the economy.

Another accusation against Keshavarz was the importation of Chinese goods and the use of Cruise Company labels on them. I know a smuggler who brings goods into the country by boat without paying any rights or duties. However, we always import goods into the country through legal channels.

He says that Cruise Company had to import goods by air, and for this reason, we pay $2 million for the transportation costs of the goods by air.

While Hamid Kashavarz Tochani, known as the first defendant in this case, was recognized as the Director General of the Social Security of Alborz Province last year, he was honored by being selected as the ninth winner of the National Festival of Top Entrepreneurs in the field of entrepreneurship in this province in 1400.

The information obtained indicates that Kashavarz not only holds American citizenship but has also transferred a significant amount of currency out of the country under the pretext of purchasing property in other countries.

This case involves 18 defendants, with the first and second defendants being Iranian-Americans and Iranian-Canadians, one of whom is fugitive. These two individuals are accused of major involvement in the country’s economic system through the leadership and organization of a criminal group involved in smuggling professional and organized automotive parts, totaling 33,961,686,419,100 Iranian rials, from 1392 to 1399, as well as participating in bribery of customs officials.